SYNOPSIS
‘Palyad’ is a story of a family comprising grandfather, Mahadu, his widowed daughter-in-law, Lakshmi, and her young son, Shambhu. This family belongs to ‘Smashanjogi’ community, who traditionally, assist people in carrying out the last rites of their loved ones and live near the crematorium. Head of the family, Mahadu strongly believes in this traditional work of cremating people with age-old ritual and expects young Shambhu to carry on this tradition forward once he grows up, just as his late son did. However, Shambhu hates this traditional work of cremating people, instead, he is interested in donning a school uniform and attending a local school. But education is forbidden for Smashan Jogi community in this bigoted village where village head considers superstitious, religious beliefs above progressive human endeavors. Shambhu attempts to attend the local school stealthily with help of his mother but pays a heavy price in ensuing events.